Research suggests that humans are programmed
to respond to music. Proof of this,
says Dr. Mark Tramo, director of the Institute For Music and Brain
Science, is that there is no known human culture without music.
Research
"We
have an innate predisposition to be able to apprehend an emotion and
meaning in music," said Tramo. "When you listen to a baby babble,...
they're experimenting with their voice and learning how to make vocal
sounds by using the vocal apparatus as an instrument — the first
musical instrument was voice...”
This
might be a good explanation why mothers all over the world
instinctively help their babies get to sleep by humming and singing.
What could be more soothing to a baby than hearing a soft song, sung by
a mother’s loving voice?
The
science and healing aspects of music deserves more research. Thus far,
the only real proof of it’s effectiveness in getting a baby to sleep is
purely empirical. I’ve watched many babies fall peacefully to sleep to
either soft music or a lullaby sung by it’s mother or someone familiar
to the baby.
When
I was a young mother, I discovered a winning formula to help baby sleep
and I have used it with my grandchildren: Get comfortable, preferably
in a rocking chair, and hold your baby while softly humming or playing
beautiful instrumental music, (music with vocals proved to be
distracting to the baby who seemed to prefer it’s mother’s voice or
instrumental music).
Take slow, deep
breaths to calm yourself. Your
baby will intuit your calmness and relax even more. This has always
worked for me, and not only did the baby get a good night’s sleep, so
did I!
